Balto and his Owner
by BlushippingZutara
Summary: Balto dreams of becoming a sled dog. His owner, Tristan hopes to become a musher. When sickness strikes Nome, Alaska and holds Serenity's baby sister, Rosie, in it's deadly grasp, can Balto and Tristan save the day?


The Alaskan terrain was shining in the sunlight, snow becoming nearly blinding in the light. The terrain was nearly unbroken, save for nearly purple, ice-and-snow-covered mountains and two teams of sled dogs and their masters. One team was made up of large, nearly roly-poly dogs while the other was made up of thin dogs lead by a black and white dog with a red collar and his gold license read "Steele".

Coming up was a mountain pass that was wide enough to only let in one dog team. Steele glanced over at the opposing team, mainly the feet of the swing dog closest to him. Steele surged forward, nearly tripping up his team and almost throwing his musher off the sled.

"Steele! Whoa! Whoa!" the musher yelled over the barking of his dogs.

"Steele! We're not gonna make it!" yelped Steele's own swing dog, earning him a harsh kick in the snout from the lead dog. Steele eyed the feet of the opposing swing dog once more before making an attempted bite at them.

The dog in question leapt upwards to avoid Steele's sharp teeth. The dog tried to regain its footing on the path, only to trip up the team dogs behind him and send the entire team into a dog pile.

Steele allowed himself to slow down only a little as the opposing musher pulled himself from the mass of mongrels.

"STEELE!" he roared, the mountain pass carrying his voice to Steele's sharp ears and to the man atop the mountain pass as he raised a pistol into the air and shot once, the sound carrying to a town not too far away.

Just on the outskirts of the town, a tall brown-haired boy dressed in a thick black overcoat and a matching hat covering his head, forcing some of his hair into his dark brown eyes. He smirked at the sound of the gunshot.

"That's three-mile marker. Come on boy we can-" The teen looked around only to see a set of wolf-like pawprints and goose tracks. The teen slapped his forehead. "Borris! BALTO!" A loud barking came from the house next to the boy. He looked up and a large Russian goose with its head in the mouth of a wolf-like dog with grey-brown fur. "Balto! Come here!" The dog looked down and shook his head, shaking the goose as well.

"Get your slobbery mouth off of me!" Borris honked as he pulled his head out of Balto's mouth. His voice held a distinctly Russian accent.

"Come on Borris, we'll cut around back and catch the end of the race," Balto said as he tip-toed over the railing.

"No! I'm-" He grabbed Balto's tail to catch the wolf-dog's attention, "A delicate country bird." Balto smiled in his own wolfish way before moving on. "I hate going into town!"

"Well, Tristan's got to eat more than just fish you know. And it's the end of the race. Come on, what can go wrong?" Borris opened his beak to speak, only to have Balto dart across the railing, leap onto another one and toss Borris into a pair of jeans that were hanging out to freeze-dry.

"BALTO!" Tristan yelled, making the hound look down before he leapt as well, grabbing the rope the jeans were hanging from with his teeth as he swung Borris and himself over to the other side of the street. "Balto no!" But the canine grabbed Borris by his tail feathers and ran up the roof to set Borris down on top.

"Why do I let you talk me into these things?" Borris asked as he rubbed his abused feathers and took a step away from the dog, only to slip down the other side. His feet caught on the prize antlers someone had gotten off a moose. Borris let out a small scream at the sight of the dead geese next to him hanging in a similar fashion to what he was.

A hand shot out of the window and grabbed Borris by his feet and pulled him into the shop, slamming him down on a cutting board and pulled out his tail feathers. Borris squawked in complaint to the rough treatment, pulled his feathers out of the butcher's hands and placed them back in place as the butcher grabbed a large knife from his belt.

Borris stared at the knife for a second before making a break for the window. The butcher slammed the knife down in front of him, nearly clipping his beak in front of the sharp metal. Borris lay stunned long enough for the butcher to grab his legs and lay him down on the cutting board. The goose let out a yell of pure terror as the knife swung down towards his throat.

Balto reached into the window and grabbed Borris' head in his mouth and yanked him out the window before the large man could do any more damage to the bird. The only things that remained of Borris' little adventure was a perfect outlining of him in his own feathers. The butcher stuck his head out the window.

"Bring that back here you thief!" he yelled. Balto looked back in amusement before looking out at the terrain where Steele and his team were entering town.

"Balto! Borris!" Tristan yelled from the street. Balto smiled another wolfish grin.

"You are putting me down now Mister," Borris said. Balto tossed him onto the roof.

"Come on Borris. Tristan's calling us."

"But every time there's a race you run around like you're in it," Borris said as Balto carefully made his way down the houses until his large paws hit the snow of a log railing.

"And one day I _will _be," Balto said.

"Heel boy, heel!" Borris honked as he slid down the roof. "Borris Goosenhauf is no spring chicken!" With a creak and the flash of sunlight on glass, Borris disappeared into the house for an instant before shooting out the side window and onto a railing. A large mound of snow fell from the roof and onto the goose. He popped his head up a second later. "And no spring penguin either." Borris flapped his wings to try and take off but stopped due to the freezing winds on his wings. "Oi, it's cold!" The bird stopped flapping, sending him spiraling towards the ground.

Balto shoved against another wooden log, catching the goose on his back and entering another home just as the two-mile mark went into the skies. The wolfdog burst out of the house and turned in the direction of the mark.

"Come on. We don't want to miss the finish," Balto said.

"Oh, that _would _be a tragedy," Borris said sarcastically. Balto bolted, sending the goose into a spinning spiral into the snow. "I was being sarcastic."

* * *

"Rosie, stop trying to peel my hands off. This is your birthday surprise," said a grey-green-eyed teenage girl with auburn hair that feel to the end of her shoulder blades dressed in a pale brown coat with white fur lining. Two people in black coats stood off in the corner with a red Siberian Husky.

The little girl the auburn-haired teen was talking to had bright red hair pulled up in a ponytail and big brown eyes that stood out against her pale skin. She was dressed in a black coat a few sizes too big for her, large gold mittens danged from the sleeves and a blue scarf was wrapped around her neck.

The carpenter set a sled akin to a musher's but just the right size for the tiny girl, down on the floor.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now," the auburn-haired girl said.

"How can I see even if my eyes are open if your hands are covering them, Serenity?" Rosie asked as she yanked her sister's hands off her face to stare at the sled. Rosie began to jump for joy, incoherent nonsense bubbling out of her mouth as she pointed to the sled before running over to it. "I love these rudders! I love this thrush bow! I love this sled!" Rosie ran back to her sister and hugged her for all she was worth as the husky barked the entire time. "Jenna! Jenna! You're the lead dog!" The husky, Jenna, leapt to her mistress' side and let her put the harness on while the rest of the family watched with chuckles. "Okay, MUSH!"

"Rosie, don't forget this," said her mother as she slipped a pale brown musher's hat onto her youngest daughter's head. It slipped down the sides a little and into her eyes but Rosie was too excited to care.

"A real musher's hat! We're a real sled team now!" Rosie yelled as she leapt onto the sled and situated her feet into place. "Serenity! Serenity! Come on! Let's go for a ride!" Serenity chuckled as she climbed on in front of her sister and hugged her knees to her chin. "HIKE!" Rosie yelled as Jenna bolted out the door.

"Mr. Johansen, the sled is beautiful," Rosie's father said as he dug in his coat for his wallet.

"We're very grateful," continued his wife as Rosie leapt into the room again.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried as she hugged her parents and the carpenter before running out the door and popping her head back in, "THANK YOU!"

"Rosie's grateful too huh?" the carpenter chuckled as he was paid for his work.

"MOMMY! DADDY! Come watch this!" Rosie yelled from outside.

"Coming dear," Rosie's mother said as the two headed for the door.

"I don't know sweetheart, I still think we should've gotten her the dollhouse," Rosie's father said as his daughters whizzed by on the sled, laughing and screaming in joy.

"I think she'll learn to love it." Another flare lit up the skies.

"The one mile marker!" Rosie said excited.

"Hike Jenna!" Serenity ordered and the husky took off to the track. The three turned onto the main road in a wave of snow. "Jenna, break and huh!" Jenna slowed to a stop, letting Serenity get off as two girls walked up to her, each with a dog's leash in hand.

"Serenity! Hey!" said the first girl who held a small white dog with a red collar and shining gold heart-shaped license. The girl had chocolate brown hair that fell to her shoulders and blue eyes dressed in a black coat and a blue hat on her head to keep the cold away from her ears. The second one had an Afghan Hound on the end of her leash and snow-pale skin surrounded by a huge black-fur coat and her pale hair was hidden under the dark hood, letting her blue eyes appear from the shadows.

"Hey Téa, Kisara, how's it going?" Serenity asked as the girls' dogs lined up with Jenna. The humans began to talk about various things from boys to Rosie's new sled as the dogs began to converse among themselves.

"Good morning Jenna," squeaked the white Pomeranian as she thrust out her chest so her license flashed in the light. "Ought to be a close race, don't ya think? Maybe even neck-and-neck!" The Pomeranian was shaking the leash connecting her to her owner as she spoke.

"Say something about her new collar before she gives her owner's wrist whiplash," the Hound said.

"Um…Dixie? Is that a new collar?" Jenna asked. Dixie froze in her tracks looking down at the collar.

"What?! This old thing?"

"Dixie, keep moving," the Hound said in a bored tone.

"No need to be so rude Sylvie," Dixie growled before she continued to move, barely missing being stepped on by her owner's boots. "But to answer your question Jenna, yes it is new. Do you think uh…Steele will notice?" Dixie asked, her fur spiking out of place at Steele's name. Jenna and Sylvie shared a glance, Sylvie looking disgusted while Jenna was in disbelief.

"I'm afraid the only way Steele notices anyone is if they're wearing a mirror," Jenna said as they neared the crowd standing by the finish line, just as Steele and his team rounded the corner. Steele righted himself so he stood up straight as his fans squealed in excitement.

Balto crawled in between two stacks of crates to get a better view of the race.

"Jenna! Stay girl," Serenity said as she petted her dog, catching Balto's attention with her yell. Jenna nuzzled against Rosie, licking her face and exposed hands when she could, despite her owner's light pushing her away.

"Hold on," Rosie ordered as she raised her hat into the air. "Come on Steele!" she yelled as a wind picked up, snatching the hat out of Rosie's grasp. "Oh no!" The wind dropped the hat in the middle of the road, right in the way of the oncoming dogs. "My hat!" Serenity grabbed her sister as she surged forward to grab the hat.

"Rosie! Don't!"

The sled team bolted right past Balto. Once the musher was out of his way the wolfdog burst out into the road, easily overtaking the musher and the wheel dogs**** with his eyes set on the hat.

The crowd began yelling and screaming that the wolfdog would ruin the race as Borris and Tristan pushed their way through. Borris looked up and down the track before letting out a scream as Balto caught up with Steele.

"Hey! Out of my way Lobo!" Steele barked. Balto smirked to himself and kept his eyes on the hat in front of him. He started turning his running strides into leaps and making them faster as Steele hunched over to match the wolfdog's speed. The Alaskan Malamute snapped at Balto's feet, making to canine leap into the air and in front of the black-and-white dog.

Rosie and Serenity gasped as Balto grabbed the hat in between his teeth and leapt towards the opposite side of the street as Steele and his team passed the finish line.

Tristan pulled in a gasp.

"When will you learn to stay on the sidelines?!" Borris demanded before getting a mound of snow to the face from the sled. Slowly, Borris wiped snow out of his eyes and spat out what was in his mouth.

* * *

The telegram man chuckled as he tapped his machine.

"To Daily Chronicles, Stop." The man didn't realize how much trouble he was causing his own dog, who was resting in a basket under the table and scratching his ear in sync with the beeping. "Steele wins first place again, Stop. Three-time winner keeps golden collar, Stop. Nome." The man reached down and patted his dog's head. "That Steele is some dog, huh Morris?"

* * *

The crowd cheered Steele's name as he walked down the street, a couple of his team members were praising him as well.

"I must say Steele, it was a true honor running with you," said a brown wheel dog.

"It was the most amazing…the most incredible…the-the most-"

"You rock!" yipped the smallest of the team –a small grey dog - which also happened to be the dog Steele had kicked in the face. The one that had spoken before – a golden-tawny team dog – glared at him before hitting his head so hard the other dog went face-first into the snow.

Steele barely paid them any heed as he walked towards his musher to pose for a photo. The man rubbed his neck.

"I don't know, you think Steele's losing his edge?" he asked. The photographer nodded.

"Yea, looks like about any dog can out run him now." Steele snarled as a teenage boy with platinum-blonde hair and icy-blue eyes. His black coat was decorated with white fur on the arms and over his front.

"No way Dad! Steele's got an entire team and a sled behind him! Not to mention that half-breed mongrel got in his way!"

"I know he's got the team and me to pull Andy but-"

"But nothing!" Andy defended. "That's the only reason Steele came after the half-breed!" The musher shook his head as she walked away from his son.

"Balto!" Serenity called, catching Andy's attention. The boy grinned as the auburn-haired girl bent down to scratch behind Balto's ears and take the musher's hat from him, placing it securely on her sister's head.

"What a crazy thing to do!" Tristan yelled as he slipped two fingers into Balto's make-shift belt collar.

"And just to show off to a pretty girl," Serenity said in a suggestive tone as she patted Jenna's head. Balto and Jenna shared a small dog-smile between each other as their respective owners blushed furiously and looked away from the other.

"I'm sure Jenna would love to have you on her team," Rosie said as she held a second harness out to Balto. Tristan released his collar and Balto stepped towards the harness. His nose barely penetrated it when Rosie and Serenity's father ran up and yanked them backwards, kicking snow at Balto at the same time.

"Rosie! Serenity stay away from him!" Tristan stepped in front of Balto.

"How about the next time I see your dog in the street I kick snow at him?!" the brunette demanded.

"DAD!" Serenity yelled as she wrenched her arm free of her father's grip. Balto looked down at the harness in the road before butting his head against Tristan's knee and walking away, tail tucked away between his legs and ears pressed against his head.

"He might bite ya girls, he's part wolf." Serenity glared at her father before turning back to Tristan as he stroked Balto's back as the group headed back towards home.

"Oh now you've hurt his feelings!" Rosie complained as her father picked up the second harness and sled before taking his youngest daughter's hand and walking away.

Andy tapped Steele's back.

"Isn't that your girl, Steele?" Steele's teeth became visible as a wide grin broke out on his face. "Go get her boy." Steele took a few steps forward before Dixie leapt into his path.

"Congratulations and salutations Steele," she said quickly. Steele chuckled darkly as his shadow passed over Dixie's new license.

"Miss," he said as Dixie fell to the ground trembling like a brittle leaf in a harsh autumn wind. Steele bumped into Jenna's side as Andy draped an arm over Serenity's shoulders, drawing her front into his chest.

"Hey Serenity, you and Jenna enjoy the race?" Andy asked as he kept moving, grinding his hipbone into Serenity's stomach.

"Yea," Serenity said as she tried to push Andy away. "Almost as much as you and Steele probably did." Andy chuckled.

"Thanks. So Serenity, what say you and I let our dogs have a night together while you and I go on a date? Steele knows where all the bones are buried and I know a great restaurant that'll stay open as long as we need." Serenity pushed against the teen, finally breaking free of his grasp.

"I'm sorry Andy but I'm afraid I don't have much of an appetite and I don't think Jenna does either." Andy and Steele let out similar snarls.

"Well, maybe Jenna's taste runs more towards wolf-mongrels." Jenna snapped around, ears pressed flat against her head and teeth bared. "And maybe you'd prefer to live in a run-down boat rather than a warm cabin." Serenity snapped around, looking equally as feral as her dog.

"Serenity! Jenna! Come on! We're going back home!" Rosie called. Serenity took a tight grip on Jenna's bandanna.

"Sorry Andy, my family's calling us." Andy let out a cross between a sigh and a growl as he reached down to where Steele had been seconds before but was met with empty air.

"Steele?" the blonde asked as he looked around for the Malamute.

* * *

Borris looked from the wolfdog walking next to him to the snow at his webbed feet. Tristan rubbed his dog's back with his fingertips.

"Jenna! Serenity! Wrong side of the street!" Rosie's voice echoed through the streets, ringing in Balto and Tristan's ears. Balto waited until Tristan's fingers touched his collar again before taking off down, the alley, dragging his owner along until the two reached a fence where Jenna and Serenity were walking away from their family. Balto skidded to a halt, touching noses with Jenna and making Tristan ram his stomach into the fence, and kissing Serenity's cheek.

"Oh!" squeaked the auburn-haired girl in surprise. Tristan pulled away, blushing just as furiously as the recipient of his kiss. Jenna pulled away from Balto and the two nudged their owners' hands.

"Uh…Serenity…" Tristan whispered.

"Serenity! What's going on?!" called the girl's father.

"Come on! Jen!" Rosie called. Serenity smiled at her little sister across the street.

"We'll be there in a moment!" she called as she turned back to the alley only to find both owner and wolfdog gone. "Tristan?" Jenna sniffed the place where Balto's tracks were shown in the snow.

"Girls! Come on!" Serenity's father called. Serenity sighed as she tugged Jenna's bandanna.

"Come on Jenna. Let's go home." Jenna sniffed the tracks again before following her owner, both completely unaware that Tristan and Balto were hiding behind garbage cans. Tristan sighed as he rubbed Balto's head.

"Look boy, I know you like Jenna but someone like me isn't going to get with someone like Serenity unless she wants to be an outcast for the rest of her life. She needs a warm home with family and loved ones. She can't have that with me." Balto licked his owner's fingertips as a sort of comfort. "It's okay boy. I'm fine just watching from the sidelines as long as she's happy. Now let's go home."

Balto's shoulders drooped a little as he followed Tristan back to Borris. He knew Tristan wouldn't be happy watching Serenity date other men, get married, have a family and grow old from a distance. And Balto himself wasn't going to be happy doing the same with Jenna.

* * *

"Balto, there's something that came to me," Borris said as the two downcast males neared the goose. Balto grunted to show he'd heard the old bird. "Not chicken of course."

"Didn't make the team _Bingo_?" asked a harsh voice at the end of the alley.

"Don't listen to him. Don't look at him. Live a long life!" Borris whispered as Balto froze in his tracks. Tristan walked a few steps before stopping as well.

"My name's _Balto_!" Balto corrected as he snapped around to face the black-and-white Malamute. Borris pressed his head into Tristan's shin.

"But you can call him idiot!" the goose mumbled. Steele stepped out of the shadows as Balto advanced on him.

"Oh I'm sorry. Balto. Balto the half-breed and his freak-show owner," Steele mocked as his teammates appeared at the mouth of the alley. Steele walked up to Borris as the goose stepped away from Tristan. "Hey goose. You half-breed to huh? Part turkey?" he asked as he shoved Borris into a thrown-out barbeque grill, the lid shutting itself as the goose landed inside it.

"Steele! Down!" Tristan yelled as he and Balto stepped in front of the grill.

"Just leave them out of this," Balto snarled. The Malamute turned tail on the wolfdog and slapped him twice with it.

"And Balto, I've got a little message for your mother," Steele growled as he walked back to his teammates. The Malamute threw his head back and let out a long, mocking howl. The rest of the team joined in. Tristan looked at his dog who was starting to growl. He grabbed hold of the belt collar and tried to pull Balto away.

"Easy boy. Easy." Steele released another long howl and a hand clamped down on his muzzle, snapping it shut.

"Steele! Muzzle it!" ordered a harsh voice. It's owner was dressed in a thick brown coat that covered her thin figure. Her hood was pushed down to reveal long brown hair with gold highlights and bright blue-green eyes with flecs of grey speckled in them.

Steele snapped at the hand on his muzzle. The girl yanked it away before the dog's teeth could make contact and Balto surged forward putting himself in between the girl and the large sled dog in front of him.

"You okay Hanna?' Tristan asked as the girl neared him.

"Yea, he didn't get me this time," Hanna responded as Balto trotted up to them. "Let's go though." Tristan nodded as the sled dogs turned backside to them. The group started running as the dogs began kicking snow at them.

Steele's paw caught a stone in the snow-filled grip and kicked it back, making it hit Balto right in the head, sending him crashing into a pile of garbage.

"Balto!" Tristan yelled as he ran through the pelted snow and placed the wolfdog on his shoulders before following after Borris and Hanna.

* * *

BZ; Well, that's all for now. Please review. BYE!


End file.
